Cosco China Shipping Group Chairman Xu Lirong has launched the new lines of business of the company: Cosco Shipping Lines (Central America) Inc and Cosco Shipping lines (Panama) Inc, in Panama.

The launch took place one day after the opening of the expanded canal with the transit of the Cosco Shipping Panama.

Container ship CoscoShipping Panama - Image: Ali Imam

Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator Jorge Quijano said the merger of these two great companies –Cosco and China Shipping – will allow them to climb one or two places up from the 8th position as a client of the Panama Canal.

“Now that the vessels of China Shipping are added to those of Cosco, the new company will step up the customer ranking of the Panama Canal and will bring larger ships to the country,” he said.

The company China Cosco Shipping Group wants to deploy ships of 14,000 teu through the expanded canal, and these vessels are under construction, Quijano said.

The merger of the two largest Chinese shipping lines will makes COSCOCS the fourth largest in the world with a market share of 7.7% according to figures from Alphaliner.